Burning To Begin In Grove Infected With Citrus Canker

State officials hope to start destroying canker-ridden citrus trees today in a heavily infected portion of a mature grove near Palmetto.

About 150 acres of the 360-acre grove owned by Manatee Fruit Co. are infected, with the disease concentrated on about 25 acres, state officials said Tuesday.

The state will follow existing eradication guidelines by removing and burning trees in the 25-acre area; trees within 50 feet of the area will be stripped of all leaves and green twigs, said Richard Gaskalla, assistant director of the state Division of Plant Industry. The likelihood of the disease spreading beyond the grove will decrease after workers destroy trees in the heavily infected area, he said.

Officials may experiment with an isolated, 6-acre section of grapefruit trees to see whether the bacterial disease can be eradicated while destroying or defoliating fewer trees, Gaskalla said.

The only known way to kill canker is to burn the infected trees.

On Monday, workers began destroying back-yard citrus trees on Anna Maria Island near Bradenton, where the latest canker outbreak erupted in mid-June.